Not as fair as a white rose?

Why did you give me a color?

That everybody considers subservient

A color which I didn’t chose!

Does my skin tone make me less of a human?

Why am I no beauty in the eyes of this world?

If this is not the case then why I am at the dead end of unwanted jokes and uncanny taunts hurled!

Why am I made to surmise?

That this color is something

Which turns me into a second class citizen?

That beauty comes with a white face only,

Unlike me, A Dark skinned someone!

Why do I time and again lose opportunities?

Inspire of being no less than the rest!

Even when I know I belong to top of the line

Nothing but the best!

Dark skinned, Dusky, Black, Brown, ” Sanwali ” by whatever name called a dark-skinned girl is always at the receiving end of dissenting jokes, bias and unwanted sympathies. Since the birth of a dark skinned girl to her marriage, she has to endure a lot for her color in spite of being no fault of hers. Recently this cat was out of the bag when one of the very talented actresses of our country ” Tannishtha Chatterji ” was publically humiliated on one of the most popular comedy shows of our country ” Comedy nights bachao “. She wrote an open letter illustrating some hard-hitting truths about the mentality of people towards dark skin and their obsession with so-called ^ Fair Color ^. Other celebrities such as Radhika Apte , “Parched ” fame who has always been vocal on issues of women empowerment also supported the issue condemning body shaming and jokes on color. Being a dark skinned girl I am really glad that someone took a stand for us. But still there are so many things that we dark skinned girls face many of which are usually kept under the hat or even if they come out, are blatantly ignored. No matter how much hue and cry are made on this but it is a thousand percent true fact that we are officially obsessed with fair color and knowingly and unknowingly discriminate on the basis of same. Here is a series of some poignant experiences which we dark skinned girls have to endure right from our childhood:-

I. The girl does not possess fair color ” Rang saaf Nahi hai “

Right after when a girl child is born, The first thing to be asked is whether the color of the child is fair or not? To be more precise ” Rang saaf hai ya nhi hai “. If the girl turns out to be a dusky colored girl, a worry about who will marry her twitches from right there. Imagine the first compliment we get is ” First of all a girl and then that too a dark-skinned one”. This is a dire truth that even during pregnancy to be the mother is being advised to eat certain food which will reap a fair colored child.

II. ” Kaali Hai” (Black)

Someone with a dusky tone might be very well familiar with this word “Kaali”. She is being called a “Kali” every now and then; it may be in the course of a fight with cousins or in school. I have always felt that even in her family a dark skinned girl has to face bias on the basis of her skin tone. Our fair cousins try to overshadow us and make fun of us.

III. “Features Ache hai”

Lol ! We are never being referred as beautiful rather in spite of her dark color her features are good or she is too pretty for her skin color. What does it mean? I am sure none of us would want to receive such a warm hearted compliment.

IV. Even most of the guys prefer Fair colored girls

When we enter teenage, we see our fair friends getting more proposals than you. More guys getting attracted towards fair color and in spite of you being talented and having a good heart your color will supersede everything.

V. All those unwanted advises to get fair skin

Just like ” Vivah ” movie, you are bombarded with unwanted advice on how to get the fair skin? Every random auntie will open her Pandora box and will not refrain from giving umpteen amounts of pearls of wisdom on skin lightening.

VI. Skin tone in the biodata is mentioned as – ‘Wheatish’

While getting married our bio data have our skin tone cited as “Wheatish” rather than “Brown” or any other shade. Our parents are too scared to mention this word no less than a curse word “Brown” or worse “Black”

VII. The girl is not fair,” Ladki Kali / Sanwali hai “

Many of the prospective mothers in laws might insolently blurt it out on your face that ladki Kali/ Sanwali hai. I mean come on lady have some respect but no they won’t. After all, we are dark noe. It gives them every right to reject us out rightly. Although it absolutely doesn’t matter how their son looks like but matrimonial pages are filled with adverts demanding a “Gori chitti” bride.

VIII. Glorification of fair color by adverts

All the fairness cream adverts seem to hint towards the fact that in order to achieve every milestone of success you need to first improve your color. For the reason, that fair color is the ladder to success.

IX. Lame jokes by husband

Even after marriage we are a subject of mockery by our very own husband. After all, we have got nothing but our color to get ourselves made fun of.

X. The whole world takes digs on us because of our color

Our dark skinned tone has given every random person whether it is a neighbor or a friend or a paltry shopkeeper a right to make fun of us and to let us feel inferior. We are constantly reminded that we are dark Coloured by phrases as such “This color won’t suit you, this Lip shade will make you look dark ” blah blah blah.
I know these things might look like not that much of a big deal but these actually are. A thing such as these lowers the self-confidence of a girl so much so that she starts to consider herself as inferior. What Tannishtha Chatterji did was exceptionally admirable and it had given a lot of girls like me the courage to stand towards this otherwise bog-standard issue.
Image source: www.famousbirthdays.com